Ludwig
Ludwig is a character in Satellite City. The Grand Voice of the Kivouachians, he is the leader of their current operations and, through the hybridization experiments, aims to create a new Kivouack. Appearance Physical appearance Ludwig has a very tall, gangly figure that is unusually skeleton-like and oddly human-like in appearance. His physique is very slim and could be described as lanky or thin. His skin is a dusty sort of tan color and usually appears wrinkled or furrowed with random indentions around the eyes and sharp yet flat nose. Ludwig's hair has a streaked black and mustard-yellow pattern to it, which appears to fray and spread out to mimic a mullet or mane. Five long sharp bone-like spines brace each side of his throat, and each spine trails closer to the front, stopping at the base of his throat just above the collarbone. Several narrow blood-red openings in Ludwig's throat also make room for more smaller quills curling around his neck. He has more spines jutting out of his jaw along with other tiny spines which are peppered in a sort of goatee pattern on his chin and along a line where lips would be on a human. Ludwig's mouth extends from the center of his face to the slits near the sides of his throat giving his jaw plenty of freedom to move. He has at least two sets of needle-sharp fangs in his mouth, and a smaller inner set behind the much larger primary teeth that have a red tint near the gum-line. His eyes are bright gold with an unusually shaped pupil that permits him to see many, many more colors than the human eye. The skin around the eyes is jet black, which makes them appear much larger than they really are. Very intricate golden stripes stem from his eyes and end just above his large mouth. Smaller versions of these can be seen more subtly around other parts of his face. His eyebrows match the color of his hair and are quite thick and tend to flow along with his head as it moves. Most of the anatomy past his head and neck resembles human males very closely. Ludwig's shoulders are very broad and his torso are very wide, but short, and his arms are very spindly. He has five fingers and a thumb with long black claws tipping each of his digits. His hands are also extremely human-like, but do not share the same physical structure. His legs are extremely long and make up most of his height, towering almost comically over his upper body. His feet are much bigger and more animal-like however, with five huge black claws on each toe that curve towards the ground. Clothing Ludwig wears a long black and yellow-striped coat tailored by Fontaine himself. The collars, cuffs, and waistbelt are all black; the waistbelt hangs tied rather loosely around his waist. Ludwig's coat has four seperate tails, all of which come together to appear as two. Underneath of all of this he wears a black vest with four red buttons, a dark orange handkerchief in his breast pocket, and a very interesting yellow (damask) pattern decorating the front. Some sort of red and (faintly, white) dress shirt or tie puffs up beneath it. His dress pants are a deep crimson red with an extremely detailed pattern including various tan shapes, flowers, and insignias. Most of Ludwig's outfit (especially his coat) appears to be old and worn out, since a lot of the fabric on it has started to wear off leaving behind grainy bits of lint or missing color. It is currently unknown what Ludwig looks like without his coat on. Personality Ludwig is generally bitter, cold, and very unsympathetic towards the feelings of others, especially if it gets in the way of things he deems important. He's extremely hardworking and dedicated to his goal of keeping the Kivouack alive and quite literally never stops working towards it. He's obsessive about scientific theories and experiments, natural selection, and the identity of Mandus; the creature responsible for the downfall of the Kivouack. Ludwig has sacrificed a lot emotionally for this goal, and likely will not stop at anything to reach it. He has been noted to be an expert in psychological warfare and trained under Fontaine in his earlier days of scheming in the Kivouack. His intelligence and talent was extraordinary, which led him to be known and respected by most high political figures (which later granted him rank as Whisper to Winifred). Ludwig even predicted the downfall of the Kivouackians, but was deemed insane and outcasted before it actually happened. Curiously enough Ludwig actually seems to be quite emotionally complex, and has a very strong fear of losing others since the downfall of the Kivouackians. He wants to do what's best for others because he's scared he'll lose them, just like he lost Lucy all those years ago. Background As a younger creature, Ludwig surpassed many with his cunning and ruthless nature, but lacked ambition. Young Kivouachians were left to feed and educate themselves, they would often steal food or eat each other. Only the strong would grow to full size. Ludwig was able to manipulate others and was a master of psychological warfare. He really hit his stride when he befriended the young Lucy Lacemaker. The two would pull off scandals, heists, and terrorise the older creatures with their brilliant minds. Eventually, Lucy was taken in by a creature called Sombra, a wise and well read master of history and law. This led to Lucy becoming the top judge in the Kivouack and The Voice of the Court. Ludwig was taken in by Fontaine who taught him the true mastery of scheming and manipulation. Under Fontaine's guidance, Ludwig became a famous name in the Kivouack, as well as a respected one. His talents were under-utilised in the beginning, as he started out as a glorified butler to the political leaders of their world. He soon became a friend to many important figures. Eventually, he grew to become one of the top advisers to Winifred, acting as her Whisper. Winifred delighted in toying with those who worked under her, yet she took little interest in Ludwig as The Grand Voice, Locket, wanted him for her mate. This allowed Ludwig to avoid Winifred’s imaginative cruelty, yet due to his fear of Locket it also made his life difficult. During this time, Ludwig was in a relationship with Helgan, one of the greatest political figures of their time. Their relationship was public knowledge, so at her first opportunity, Locket had Helgan contorted into a seat where she remained for countless years. Once Helgan was in her place, Locket continued to pursue Ludwig and almost succeeded. But upon seeing her private chambers, Ludwig promptly fled. Ludwig was the only one who spoke out against the high politicians regarding the threat of Mandus, but he was declared insane and relieved of his duties. Once Lucy Lacemaker went missing, Ludwig ventured into the Madness Frontier to find her. Locket sent Shuck and Wexle to arrest him, but after an engagement with a follower of Mandus, Shuck was left wounded and Wexle was left in pieces. Ludwig escaped during the confusion of combat. After the Kivouack was destroyed, Ludwig was forced into leadership by the very creatures who condemned his warnings as madness. Ludwig, cold and bitter due to the loss of many friends, reluctantly agreed and drew up plans to bring the Kivouack back to glory and make their world anew. Abilities Immortality: All Kivuackian's are immortal due to their cellular structure and the ability to control the length of their own telomeres, because of this they cannot die naturally of age. The only way a Kivouackian can die is if their DNA is damaged and left un-mended. Regeneration: '''Kivuackian's are capable of regenerating skin, limbs, tissue, and other body parts. Even dismemberment is of little threat to them. '''Transformation: '''Kivuackian's have the ability to rewrite their own DNA and density at the flick of the wrist, giving them the freedom to re-create parts of themselves whenever they'd like to whatever they'd like (ex; Wexle's arms turning into blades when she fights Dorothy, Lucy Lacemaker turning herself into a swarm of flies, etc). '''Contortion: '''Sometimes Kivouackian's were dismembered at the head for whatever reason it may be; sometimes for pleasure and sometimes for play. But all have the ability to stay alive for extremely long periods of time without the head. Of course this becomes invalid once the head is eaten, burned, or dissolved, but if not - they are simply unconscious. Those with weak genes will usually die after a couple thousand years without their heads on, and most will need aid when it comes to actually putting it back on. But there are the rare, lucky few (ex; Lucy Lacemaker) who's heads will naturally return to their bodies without help. Relationships Lucy Lacemaker - Close childhood friend to Ludwig. The two of them met at a very young age and spent most of their time together pulling off heists, scandals, trading illegal body parts, and killing the weaker creatures of the Kasino in exchange for knowledge about their kind. Fontaine took them in as apprentices, and the two of them stayed close throughout the years as both of them moved up the political ladder. In current time however, their relationship seems much more problematic since Ludwig is scared of losing her and appears to be torn between the survival of the Kivouackian's and his friendship with Lucy. Shuck - Ludwig and Shuck used to be very close during the Mandus conflict when the two of them ventured into the Madness Frontier to find Lucy Lacemaker. He even helped Shuck stop blood-letting in the 1500s. No matter what, Ludwig will always have a deep respect for Shuck, but nowadays they have grown distant and are definitely not as close as they used to be. Fleischer - Ludwig doesn't like Fleischer, avoids him, and blames a lot of what happened during the Mandus conflict on him. They don't speak much nowadays. Winifred - Naturally, he feared Winifred and was very anxious around her during his days as her Whisper. Ludwig knows Winifred's true nature, and seems to be frustrated that she isn't what she used to be. Hyzenthlay - Ludwig sees Hyzenthlay as more of an object of success than he does a true Kivuackian. He knows what she is and is partialy the reason for her existence. Sullivan - Met in 1996, Ludwig seems to tolerate Sullivan and cooperates with him when needed. Wexle - Used to be against Ludwig in the beginning as she was a warrior and nothing more than that. Currently she is his right-hand lady and is just as feared and respected as Ludwig is. Fontaine - Without Fontaine who knows where Ludwig would've been? Fontaine is a (fatherly) mentor figure to Ludwig and has known him since he was a child. He taught him everything he needed to know about the arts, performance, scheming, not to mention manipulation and thievery too. Ludwig works alongside Fontaine now and seems to accept his words of advice. Helgan - Former mate and the first and only to survive her in a relationship. Funny enough, Ludwig was the more dominant of the two. After her contortion into Locket's throne however, their relationship ended. He no longer likes her on a personal level and nowadays Helgan serves beneath him. Felicity - Ludwig seems to find Felicity to be somewhat of a nuisance, trying to limit his time around her to be as short as possible. Quinn - He's quite dismissive of him and sees him as nothing more than a messenger. Sombra - Respects him just as deeply as he respects Fontaine. It's noted that Sombra has possibly taught Ludwig how to fight in battle. Locket - Ludwig undeniably had a fear of Locket. Unfortunately for him, Locket liked him on a personal level and she almost succeeded in persuing him until the day Ludwig saw her private quarters and fled. The both of them are now hostile towards each other, and are both the leaders of their respective parties which are currently against each other. Helen Merchant - A girl who lived in 1734, Ludwig fell in love with her but he was forced to watch time kill her. She grew old and died at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. Outliving her made Ludwig furious, and he decided to remain distant from humans. In Character Trivia *Closest friend of Lucy Lacemaker, yet he no longer trusts her completely after her disappearance. *Mentored by Fontaine and Sombra. *Used to have an entirely different appearance. *Served as a Whisper to Winfred in the past. *Helped create Hyzenthlay. *Caused WWI and WWII. *Former enemy to Wexle, his own right-hand man. *It's been noted that Ludwig never wanted to become a political figure and was originally rejected for being too unmotivated. Lucy Lacemaker was graciously accepted however, thus separating the two. It was at that point that Ludwig worked vigorously to become a politician, if only to be reunited with his friend. *Obsessed with the identity of Mandus and what happened to those who were taken by him. *Is the current Grand Voice and leader of Kivouackian's. *Still has an immature and violent side of himself that possibly interferes with his emotions. *He's actually quite fond of human food. *Is bitter towards all humans and hates their species as a whole, he even goes as far as to confiscate books containing their literature. *There's lots of contradicting statements about Ludwig's relationship with his parents, but it can be said that he either killed them both alongside Lucy, or refused to kill his father himself. Out of Character Trivia * '''You Belong: Ludwig's design was based on the Smiler - a rollercoaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire. * Changes: Ludwig has undergone many changes over the course of their existance. Based on previous teases on Twitter, Ludwig has taken on four distinct looks over the course of their creation. Their first model was played by a physical performer. Their second was purely CGI but utterly human. Their third was the first appearance in Show itself, and the fourth is their current apperance. Technically, one could consider a fifth form, which was their very Goth appearance, 7 Billion Years ago. Category:Characters